Trump orders US census to exclude illegal immigrants

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump said Thursday that he has ordered to start working on a new census to exclude people living in the country without legal status.

"I have instructed our Department of Commerce to immediately begin work on a new and highly accurate CENSUS based on modern day facts and figures and, importantly, using the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024," Trump wrote in a post on social media platform Truth Social.

"People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS," Trump said.

The US Census is conducted every 10 years by the US Census Bureau, part of the Commerce Department, as required by the US Constitution. The next one is scheduled for 2030.

Its purpose is to count every person living in the United States, regardless of citizenship or immigration status. The results are then used to redistribute seats in the US House of Representatives among the states, based on population.

Trump's remarks about the US census came after his strong advocacy for the Republican Party to gain additional US House seats in the upcoming midterm elections by redrawing district boundaries. The Republican Party's move to reshape Texas' congressional districts — widely criticized as a partisan gerrymander — has ignited a nationwide political clash.

This is not the first time Trump has pushed for a new census that excludes illegal immigrants. In 2020, Trump — during his first term — signed a presidential memorandum to leave out unauthorized immigrants from the numbers used to divide up seats in Congress among the states. The plan was challenged in court and eventually blocked.

In 2021, former President Joe Biden reversed Trump's policy with an executive order, restoring the longstanding practice of counting all residents, regardless of immigration status. Trump revoked Biden's order on the first day of his second term, though it does not change the 2020 census results.